I encourage anyone
that has more information (Flight Log Book entries) or photos on 112
Squadron please send an e-mail to raf_112_sqdn@yahoo.com before the
history is lost.

RAF
112 Sqdn

K
Flight

Gladiator Mk I K6134 RT S,
some sources think this is Flt Lt John Scoular,

if he did not
enter service with K Flight until 13 February 1941 this could not

be him as the
plane had ( if the loss date is correct) had already crashed.

Adding to the
confusion if Flt Lt Scoular joined in November 1940, then it might be
him,

but this photo
does not look like him.

This might be Plt Off Ted H
Scottor a South Rhodesian, who came to the Unit I think in June,

1940 (not
confirmed). Note the unknown symbol under the
cockpit, symbol is repeated just
under

the rear of the cockpit in white.( photo enhanced
to show pilot details) Thanks to Alf Bell and the 250 Sqdn Association I can
give a definitive answer to all the above. He states their copy of this photo identifies
the man as" Flt Lt PETE SAVAGE". I would bet my money
on them! :-)

Orders
where received on 31 May 1940 for "B" Flight RAF 112 Sqdn to form
"K"
Flight, aircraft departed 2 June 1940 for Summit an airfield south
of Port Sudan on the Red Sea to form this group

Known (so far)
112 Sqdn pilots that flew on detachment with "K" Flight

he transferred
from 253 Wing and was only part of 112 Squadron for 1 month before
moving on to K Flight and then 250 Squadron. He later served as Sqdn Ldr in 152 (Hyderabad) Sqdn May 1946
to June 1946 ?

shortly
a repaired aircraft appeared to replace Taits' it was L7612 probably flown
in by Plt Off Wolsey

K Flig

ht,

20
August, 1940, Group Captain

Leonard
Horatio Slatter, finally accepted the name K
Flight, and by some accounts officially recognized K Flight as part of 14
Squadron, ( At Port Sudan, 14 Squadron
having disposed first of its Wellesleys then its Gladiators between September
1940 and March 1941, had re-equipped with Blenheim IVs)
while working with 47 Sqdn. By 20
August, 1940,"K" Flight was down to seven
of its original
Gladiators all carrying RT codes. On 9 December, 1940, K Flight at
Port Sudan dispatched six Gladiators Mk.IIs and one Mk.I, accompanied by
a Wellesley carrying a fitter and a rigger, to Heliopolis to reinforce
112 Squadron during the upcoming Operation Compass. Flying
Officer Green and Flying Officer R. B. Whittington of this Flight
arrived at Sidi Hanaish from Heliopolis on 12 December, 1940,
while Flight Lieutenant John
Scoular and Sergeant E. N. Woodward arrived on 16 December. At this
later date, Flying Officer Jack
Hamlyn had already been detached to 112 Squadron, flying his first
known sortie on 13 December, 1940. During
April 1941 , 112 Squadrons' K flight formed the nucleus of 250
Squadron and re-equipped with Tomahawks

Serials

Code

Arrival

K6134

RT-S

22/02/37
From Manufacturer to 72 Sqdn On 22
February 1937 the first of the Gladiators (K6130-K6137) entered
service with the newly formed 72 Squadron, based at Tangmere

On Strength June 1939 Helwan "B" Flight
was
used at Summit (Summit was an airfield in Sudan, about 60 miles south
west of Port Sudan on the Red Sea coast, beside the railway line that
goes across Sudan to Khartoum. it was near the airfields of Wadi Gazouza
& Erkowit. Gebeit airfield was about 10 miles up the railway) Port
Sudan and Khartoum, July 1940

16/05/39
To the ME with unit.

20/07/39,
Flown
by Flt Lt Fraser

31/08/39,
Flown by Flt LT Fraser, RAF 112 Sqdn

01/12/39,
Flown by Flt LT Fraser, RAF 112 Sqdn

05/01/40,
Flown by Flt LT Fraser, RAF 112 Sqdn, To
and From Heliopolis

, fate as yet unknown, probably destroyed in Greece, again if it went
to Greece/Crete which pilot flew it there ? and the date he flew it
there is unknown at this time That is
partly answered by the following............

When the
remaining Greek fighters were moved to Amphiklia/Lodi on 16 April,
twenty-one remained - eight Gladiators, 11 PZLs and two Bloch 151s. All
of them, except three (unspecified type) were destroyed on a surprise
attack by German Bf109s on 19 April. The three remaining fighters were
evacuated to Eleusis were two more were destroyed by a German attack on
20 April by Bf109Es from II/JG27

Going by
the information above and the transfer date of 31/04/41 for K6135 makes
it's fate a bit more of a puzzle.

28/07/39,
Flown by Flt LT Fraser, RAF 112 Sqdn10/11/39 Overshot landing into ditch, Helwan.
Returned to Squadron after repair.03/06/40 Detached with B Flight to Summit, Sudan.18/06/40, Flown by Sgt Charles John Wilson Tait,
04:00-04:10 To Erkowit LG for dawn standby18/06/40, Flown by Sgt Charles John Wilson Tait,
07:30-07:40 Return to Summit; .18/06/40, Flown by Sgt Charles John Wilson Tait,
16:30-18:15 To Erkowit LG for evening standby. Hit
ground during slow roll at Erkowit and destroyed; Sgt
Charles John Wilson Tait, 565362, RAF, attempting to slow roll over Sgts' Mess flew into the ground,
Erkowit, Sudan pilot
KIFA, the airfield had just been bombed Tait was test flying the plane
for any bomb damage, it was a fatal mistake.

Son of John Wilson and Rosa Matilda
Tait,
of Edinburgh. One way in which the RAF Sports Board was to give
considerable assistance, was in the provision of badly needed trophies.
Over the years they have kindly donated seven trophies. One
of the most treasured is the Sergeant Tait silver loving cup.
Sergeant C J W Tait was killed on active service in 1940 serving with No
112 Squadron. To commemorate his death his mother gave the cup to the
Sports Board who considered badminton an appropriate sport. The Sergeant
Tait cup has been in constant use every since. Mrs Tait was kept
informed of the competition results until her death and after that the
Association corresponded with her niece until contact was finally lost
with the family in 1974.

K6143

.

12/02/37
From Manufacturer to 72 Sqdn Used until 04/39. On
22
February 1937 the first of the Gladiators (K6130-K6137) entered
service with the newly formed 72 Squadron, based at Tangmere. A further
six Gladiators (K6138-K6143) arrived for the squadron on 4 March.1937.

(One
of the last flights that the squadron took part in before war was declared by
Italy, was a demonstration Derby flight over Cairo in the name of propaganda.This was to be carried out by nearly all the available aircraft in Middle
East.A rendezvous was decided over
the barrage, whence all aircraft would proceed to Cairo and carry out 3 left
hand circuits of the Town at 500ft, the slowest aircraft on the inside, the
fastest on the outside.Two Blenheim

Squadrons
and one Gladiator Squadron arrived from the desert, Lysanders and Bombays from
Heliopolis, Gladiators and Valentias from Helwan and some Hurricanes from Amiria
 the pride of Middle East.The
aerial Derby was on.Midday was
chosen and the air was incredibly bumpy from up currents apart from slipstreams,
which gave the aircraft a feeling of jumping fences.Gladiators were galloping past Valentias and catching up Bombays.Blenheims were dashing past hovering Lysanders and on the outside of the
course Hurricanes were racing past everything.The Egyptian Mail wrote of the Air Power of Britain in the Middle East.The powers that be were ashamed at their pitiful attempt to bluff the
educated Egyptian, and the Gyppy in the street gave an annoyed grunt as
the noise of engines kept him from his afternoon siesta.

21Flown by P/O Smither, "K" Flight, Intercept Patrol, 2 S79, 1.00
hours, claim half shared, In the early afternoon of 21
November two S.79s raided Port Sudan. The cruiser HMS Carlisle
opened fire and two Gladiators of 'K' Flight were scrambled to
intercept. Flying Officer Green and Pilot Officer G. B. Smither attacked
the bombers at 16000 feet, hitting both, but Greens fighter was hit
and damaged by return fire forcing him to retire. The gunners in the S.79s claimed to have
shot down both Gladiators.

85
Squadron Debden, June 1938 to September 1938.
Very briefly, before re-equipping with Hurricanes, this squadron had a
few Gladiators (ex-87
Sq.) on strength but it never became operational and carried no
distinctive markings.

72
SquadronTangmere, March 1937 to May 1937. Church
Fenton, June 1937 to April 1939. The unit also operated Gladiators for
two weeks in March 1940 from Acklington on the Northumberland coast due
to the bad state of the airfield at this time.
Code letters: "RN".

On Strength
RAF 112 Sqdn, June 1939 Helwan,
originally an "C" Flight plane it was lost in service with
"B" Flight which by

73
Squadron, Debden, June 1937 to November 1937.
Digby, November 1937 to July 1938

RAF
3 Squadron, Kenley, March 1937 to March 1938
and July 1938 to May 1939. Biggin Hill, May 1939 to July 1939.
Code letters: "OP".

72
Squadron, Tangmere, March 1937 to May 1937.
Church Fenton, June 1937 to April 1939. The unit also operated
Gladiators for two weeks in March 1940 from Acklington on the
Northumberland coast due to the bad state of the airfield at this time.
Code letters: "RN".

Listed
on Gladiator page as K7612 in Flt Lt Fraser's log book. On
a couple of occasions I have come acrosswhat
I think are mis-lettered aircraft serials, this could easily
happened during their repaints, the plane for Flt Lt Fraser was likely L7612,
hard one to pin down

10/07/40
I think he delivered this aircraft to "K" Flight at
Summit and caught a ride back in Vickers
Valencia K3608 on 10/07/40

06/11/40,
Flown by, Flying Officer
Hamlyn, Damaged by
CR.42s and crash-landed at Heaton, Sudan (other sources,
the third was forced down at El Hasiara, some 70 miles from its
base.; P/O
Hamlyn
safe.

Three
Gladiators of K Flight arrived over the advancing troops at
low level. They were patrolling to the east of Metemma when a formation
of an estimated six or seven CR.42s from 412a Squadriglia led
by the unit commander Capitano Raffi attacked them from out of the sun.
The Gladiator pilots were taken by surprise; 24-year-old Flight
Lieutenant Kenneth Howard Savage (RAF no. 37483) (L7614) was shot
down and killed while Pilot Officer Kirk (K7969) was forced to
take to his parachute; neither pilot saw their attacker. Flying Officer
Hamlyn evaded the initial onslaught but his aircraft (L7612) was
badly damaged and he force-landed, returning later on foot.

More
on this:

evaded the initial onslaught but his aircraft was
badly damaged and he force-landed, returning later on foot.

when three R .A .F .Gladiators of K Flight (brought from Port Sudan for
the action) were patrolling over Metemma. These pilots had not operated

before
in an area where enemy fighters could be expected and were, in the opinion
of Brigadier Boyle, probablywatching
the ground battle scene, the withdrawing enemy, the crippled tanks and smoke
rising from Gallabat. Suddenlya
formation of six or eight C.R.42's came out of the morning sun. In a
moment, two Gladiators were shot down, their pilots killed or taken
prisoner; the third was forced down at El Hasiara, some 70 miles from its
base.

29/6/40
Hamlyn claims an SM 81 over Port Sudan, 29 June 1940, he took off from
Port Sudan in Gladiator L7619 to intercept enemy aircraft. Five miles
south at 4500 feet he spotted an approaching Italian tri-motor 3000 feet
above. He climbed and delivered a quarter attack, followed by a tail
chase, by which time he had identified the machine as an SM.81. The
bomber dived down to 4500 feet but after Hamlyn had fired about 1000
round from a very close range the enemy aircraft swung to starboard and
exploded, falling in flames into the Red Sea. Parts of the SM.81 damaged
the Gladiator's windscreen, airscrew and ring and bead sight and a large
piece of piping lodged itself in the engine. Later in the day two of the
crew were rescued from a coral reef just off the coast and one turned
out to be the Commanding Officer of the10a Squadriglia of the
28o Gruppo B.T., Capitano Umberto Barone, the only one of 12
machines to reach the target.This was 112 Squadron's first victory in
the Second World War. On 31 August 1940, he was transferred from 112
Squadron to the newly established 'K' Flight in Sudan, which was forming
from the 112 Squadron detachment in Sudan.

The
S79s returned next morning when
three of them raided the airfield at Port Sudan. They were intercepted
by three Hurricanes and two Gladiators. The bombers escaped into cloud
but one Hurricane continued to give chase and finally knocked out the
starboard engine of one before he had to give up the chase and return to
base low on fuel.

At
around 1045hrs four S79s from Asmara bombed the port area, where they
were intercepted by two Hurricanes and two Gladiators. The formation
managed to escape into some cloud and return to base unscathed. This
brought an end to two days of intense operations over the port area by
the Italian bombers based at Gura and Asmara

274
Squadron, Amriya,
August 1940 to November 1940.
Gladiators' equipped one flight of this squadron before it became wholly
equipped with Hurricanes.
Code letters: It is not certain if the officially allocated code letters
"YK" was used on the Gladiators

To
RAAF 3 Squadron, Helwan and Gambut, September 1940 to
January 1941. Operated under RAF control using mainly ex-112, 33 and 80
Sqn Gladiators. Until December 1940, was mixed with one flight of
Lysanders and four Gauntlets. Code letters: "NW".

While
with RAAF 3 Sqdn:

08/12/40
07:10-08:45 Off. patrol F/L Steege.08/12/40 14:45-16:45 Off. patrol F/L Steege.09/12/4006:50-08:40 Off. patrol F/L Steege.
(counts
it out as one of the "K" Flight ones used while on detachment
to 112 Sqdn
?)15/12/40 F/L Steege
to Gerawla from the LG at Bir Mella with the aircraft U/S.

To
date unknown 112 Squadron, Helwan, June 1939 to February 1941.
Gladiators were supplemented by a few Gauntlets between March and July
1940. Code letters: "XO", later "RT".

26/02/41,
Flown by P/O Wells 1 CR.32 claimed K Flight, based at Mersa Taclai, Wells
had been patrolling over Kub-Kub, when army personnel on the ground drew
his attention to two CR.32s, which were flying above him and oblivious
to his attention. Climbing up below them, he attacked one and shot it
down over Keren in full view of the troops on the ground.

To 237
Sqdn

,

24/05/42,
overshot landing while with 237 Sqdn swung and rolled over at Asmara

On 9 December, 1941, K Flight at Port Sudan dispatched
six Gladiators Mk.IIs and one Mk.I, accompanied by a Wellesley carrying
a fitter and a rigger, to Heliopolis to reinforce 112 Squadron during
the upcoming Operation Compass. Flying Officer Oliver
Green and Flying Officer R. B. Whittington of this Flight arrived at
Sidi Hanaish from Heliopolis on 12 December while Flight Lieutenant
Scoular and Sergeant E. N. Woodward arrived on 16 December. At this
later date, Flying Officer Jack
Hamlyn had already been detached to 112 Squadron, flying his first
known sortie on 13 December.

In February 1941, he led K Flight to East Africa, moving up to
the front on 13 February.

On 22 February 1941 K flight saw its first action since its
return to operations when Scoular on an early patrol over Mersa Taclai
in Gladiator N5828 saw some Blenheims passing and escorted these to
Massawa. There he spotted a lone S.79 in flight, and shot it down. There
is no Italian record of this loss and it may in fact have been a
transport Savoia.

To
6
Squadron, Wadi Halfa, August 1941 to January 1942. Good
possibility it was around 01/08/41 when K Flight became
250 Sqdn re-equipped with Tomahawks
Primarily a tactical reconnaissance squadron, this unit also had some
Gladiators on strength.Code letters: "JV"

To 1412
Flight

, Khartoum, Sudan A Met
Flight was formed at Khartoum on 21st September 1941. In January
1942 it was redesignated 1412 (Met) Flight. A total of 7 Gladiators (K6140,
K8001, N5828, N5829,
N5831, N5833 and N5851) were used by
the flight. K6140 was a real veteran. Originally issued to 72 Squadron
it later served with 33 Squadron in Egypt. It was then transferred to
the Royal Iraqi Air Force in April 1941 before being returned to RAF
service in March 1942

Heliopolis,
Egypt Met
Flight formed on 14th April 1941. Redesignated 1411 (Met) Flight in
January 1942. As 1411 (Met) Flight the unit was entirely manned and
serviced by Egyptian personnel, although there was the odd RAF pilot in
the unit. The aircraft even carried Egyptian markings. The following
Gladiators were used, K6138, K7893,
K7913, K7925, K7961, K7963, K8003, K8008,
N5825 and N5830. In August 1943 the
unit was disbanded and the surviving Gladiators were passed on to the
Royal Egyptian Air Force, although at least three aircraft (K7961, N5828
and N5830) were passed onto the Royal Iraqi Air Force

01/03/44 to Iraq Air Force

N5833

.

From 112
possibly 02/12/40

To Khormaksar

Arden Station Flight

To
1412 Met FlightKhartoum,
Sudan A Met
Flight was formed at Khartoum on 21st September 1941. In January
1942 it was redesignated 1412 (Met) Flight. A total of 7 Gladiators (K6140,
K8001, N5828, N5829,
N5831, N5833 and N5851) were used by
the flight. K6140 was a real veteran. Originally issued to 72 Squadron
it later served with 33 Squadron in Egypt. It was then transferred to
the Royal Iraqi Air Force in April 1941 before being returned to RAF
service in March 1942